According to NFL.com, the Indianapolis Colts to have the fourth most “tied” NFL talent in the league with 27 of these players currently on their active roster:
A homegrown player is considered any player who is still on the same team that selected him. This may also include players who are back to their original teams after seasons elsewhere (excluding 2020 recruits)
Of course, many of the Colts’ “local talent” reserves can be attributed to the arrival of the general manager. Chris Ballard in Indianapolis just over three years ago.
Since taking over as Colts general manager in 2017, 23 of Ballard’s 29 total picks (79.3%) in his first three class projects (2017-2019, excluding 2020) have remained on the Colts’ active roster. That represents 23 of those 27 total ‘homegrown’ players.
[It’s worth noting that all 29 of Ballard’s total selections remain on NFL rosters].
That group of 23 men along with 4 remnants of previous regimes: Anthony Castonzo, TY Hilton, Ryan Kellyand Le’Raven ClarkAnd those are your 27 homegrown Colts players.
Many of the great nuclei of the sports dynasties were homegrown: the Chicago Bulls, the New York Yankees, the New England Patriots (* barf *), the San Antonio Spurs, and even the highly successful Colts teams of the Peyton Manning (regardless of whether they only had a Super Bowl title to prove it – those perennial AFC giants won many games).
This is how a long-term sustained franchise is successfully built, and Ballard has gone to great lengths to continue writing well and building local talent for the Colts franchise.
For what it’s worth, the Seattle Seahawks and Cincinnati Bengals led the way (tied) with 30 ‘home’ players in total, though one of those franchises is clearly not like the other in terms of recent overall success, but perhaps that’s about to change with the best rookie quarterback Joe Burrow.